I slept the night in relative comfort in a hole at the back of O'Malleys – in exchange for cleaning the restrooms. Hey, don't judge. I needed to keep an eye on my clams and I'm not so proud that I'll shirk honest work, OK?
Heading back to my home felt strange. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, really. Every corner that I turned I expected to have a team of heavies waiting for me with clubs and iron-shell blades.
Turns out I needn't have worried. I got all the way back to my rock without incident. It was a mess, of course, and I had to kick out a couple of squatters who had shacked up in my absence, but it was my home.
I tidied up. I straightened. I got rid of the chewed crab shells and keelsticks. Let me tell you, there's nothing like straightening out your home to straighten out your brain.
“Right,” I said, rolling the rock back in front of my door. “No tide like this one.”
Botherwash saw me coming before I saw him. He met me at the top of his garden, eagerly clasping my mitts. That didn't augur well. He was acting out of character. Far too friendly.
“Hey, Botherwash, how's tricks?” I said as lightly as I could.
“You're in trouble, Ted.”
“Tell me something I don't know. No, really, I need the skinny, Botherwash.”
“We can't talk here.”
“Why?”
“There're spuds out for you.”
“What? What do you...”
“Shh! What I just said! Come inside before you get seen!”
I followed him into his rock and he explained. Turns out some guys had come by and offered big clams for info on my whereabouts.
“Are we talking octopuses or cuttlefish?” I asked.
“Pusses. Big uns. The one who did the talking was a little fella. A Unome. Ugly little guy with beady eyes. He looked like he'd just come out of a scrap.”
“Buff, he gets around! I, uh, don't suppose you happened to catch his name, eh?”
“Nope. Never did ask. Didn't ask questions because he was doin' all the yappin'. Big reward, eh. I could give you up now and use it to dust my entire garden,” he said adding, as my face fell, “Hey, it's me!”
I couldn't help but laugh and he did too. Good old Botherwash. Some characters you can trust to be treacherous and others you can stake your life on. Botherwash was the latter.
“You must've inked someone real bad.”
“You don't know the half of it, old man. So,” I said, taking a kelp biscuit he offered, “I don't want you to get caught with me, so let's get down to it. I really need that info, Both.”
“What info? Oh, right! Them bugs!” he said, slapping his head and rubbing his mantle. “Yeah, yeah. I had a poke around, you know, just like old times.”
“Yes, yes, and what did you find?”
“Two names.”
“You going to keep me in suspense?”
“D'Arouge and Pierce,” he said, enunciating each word carefully, puffing his bulb out. “Fine purveyors of top-quality food to the elite and smooth-skinned. Importers of exotic produce and exclusamative suppliers to Borobo of, among other fancy gear, Morton Bay Bugs.”
“Exclusamative?”
“Yeppers. Exclusamative. That's fancy speak for 'the only guys who do it'. You're in luck, Tedrick. If Belvedere got those bugs, he got 'em from D'Arouge and Pierce, fine purveyors of top-quality...”
“OK, Both, I got it. You're a charm, you know that?” I said, ramming the rest of my biscuit in my beak. “I'll go pay them a visit now.”
“That's not all,” he called before I left.
“Oh?”
He said, “You might also be interested to know that Mister Belvedere is a long time investor in D'Arouge and Pierce, fine purveyors of top-quality food.”
“Makes sense. It's a reasonable business with a good return.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right. That, and he's best buds with Pierce.”
That popped my bulb up.
“Eh?”
“You heard me. They came from the same shoal!”
“Now you're talking!” I cried, rubbing his mantel with my mitts. “Botherwash you're one in a million.”
“Eh, now you're just flatterin' me, son. Keep goin' at it, yeah, it feels nice.”
I gave him an extra rub.
“Thanks, Both, thanks a bunch.”
“Don't mention it,” he called after me as I swam out. “Just keep yourself safe, boy, and watch your sixth! I'm counting on you!”
***
I left Unterpo, that's where I live by the way, and headed through Rhyal, arguably the commercial heart of Borobo. You might think I had shells in my head, but I did it on purpose.
Barnes was right. I couldn't trust anyone, not until I had the whole story, not until I knew how all the pieces fit together.
Botherwash said there were spuds after me. It was only a matter of time until I was made again. Turns out it was a matter of minutes.
“Hey! Tedrick! Slow down, hey, yo! Over here!”
I turned. Great. It was Dewey. If you ever want someone to come and ruin your train of thought, find yourself a cuttlefish.
“Hey, Dewey, what's up?”
“You are, Ted, brother. Did you know there's a reward for you? What are you doing out here? You could get made! Where have you been? You disappeared and there were some guys shacked up in your rock, did you know that?” he said, going on and on. “Did you find Belvedere? Is he alive? You don't look so hot, are you feeling sick?”
“Hey. Hey, Dewey, you have bubbles for breakfast, or what? Do me a solid and take a breath, yeah?”
“Where have you been? Ted, there are rough guys looking for you!”
“I know, Dewey, I know. Can you relax a little?”
“Relax?” he said. “Relax? You should be hiding! I don't think you get it!”
“I get it, Dewey, you don't. I know they're onto me. Thing is, while I'm here in the bustle, they can't do anything, not unless they want open warfare with the authorities and I'm not important enough to warrant that. Not yet, anyways. I'm just a pesky fly who rubbed up the wrong guys the wrong way.”
“Huh? What've you done? Tell me!”
“The best they can hope for is to trail me until I go somewhere secluded. But I ain't going anywhere like that,” I said. “In fact, its such a lovely day, I think I might spend today in the markets.”
Dewey was shocked, “You're a fool, Tedrick. You got rocks in your head. You need to get outta here. You need to get far away.”
I lowered my voice to a whisper, “Dewey, for the last time, I've got this. In fact, now that you're here, I need you to do me a favour. Don't worry, it won't get you implicated in anything.”
He looked nervous.
“I don't know, I don't know.”
I pushed, “Hey, remember how you dragged me into this mess? You owe me, buddy.”
“I don't... let's hear what you need.”
“First, calm down.”
“I'll consider doing that after you tell me what the second bit is.”
“The second part is that I need to know who's following me. I can't make like I know they're there, but you can swim over, um, there. See who's sniffing at my shadow,” I said. “I'll do a bit of heading here and there, you see who sticks around, see?”
“That it? Can do!”
I swam around and looked in the various shops, acting like I was having a lovely stroll through town. It was, in fact, a very nice day. The Golden Pearl was casting brilliant patterns of dancing crystals all across the bed. The temperature was balmy. Little squirts were excitedly chasing each other around the slower citizens who were complaining about the prices of pebbles.
Any other day, I would have thoroughly enjoyed it and perhaps even experienced that rare sensation that, all things considered, the Reef ain't so bad.
Don't worry. I wasn't under any illusions. I knew what was coming.
Dewey came back after a bit and followed my lead.
“Nice day, eh, Tedrick?”
“Super. Fantastic even. What's the score?”
“You've got a couple of smaller guys, look like Unome, down by the starfish cheese place. One on either side.”
I lifted my eyes and spotted them straight away.
“Alright. They're swimming with Sassam. Anyone else?”
“Yeah. There are some cuttles acting weird. They're camouflaged, loitering up above – don't look! They're there, trust me. One's doing the following. The other guys are watching him watching you.”
“Green and white bands? That's Tommy. Got it. Anyone else?”
“Gee, Tedrick, what kind of heck are you raising?”
“Anyone else?”
“I don't know! Do you want me to go asking?”
I ignored him and concentrated on the situation. I'd established who was following me, thanks to Dewey, and now came the part where I had to lose them. The trickiest bit.
The reef is full of short-cuts, if you know where to look. Some of them are obvious, some not so obvious.
Some can admit passage only to octopuses. Cuttlefish are at a disadvantage here with that big bone in their mantle, so Tommy's guys would be easy enough to lose. If you can double back underneath the anonymity of a shelf, the best they can do is guess where you're going to come out.
It was Sassam's guys that had me worried. That blanking nameless Unome of his had been tailing me for I don't know how long and I didn't even know it. They're small, fast and have good eyesight. I couldn't bail them up again, not without going to jail for a stint, and while one mightn't pose an issue, two would certainly be a task and they'd only need to keep me occupied for a bit while their heavies showed up.
The sea-weed trick might have worked, if I had the time and the ability to disguise myself without being seen, but to do that I'd have had to go off the main concourse. Too risky.
What I needed was a diversion.
Now you can either make a diversion or you can wait for one to come along. Me, I didn't have time to sit around and wait so I'll give you one guess as to what I did.
Lining the concourse were merchants peddling everything from fermented jellyfish and starfish cakes to imported keelsticks and smuggled blackwater pods. An honest living for some and a means of fencing illegal goods for others, if you catch my drift, the authorities didn't care too much what went on so long as it wasn't too illegal and that part of the clams that went in made their way to the council via taxes or bribes.
It's economics, that's all, the flow of clams from here to there with stuff happening in the middle.
The spruikers tooted in a low drone, reiterating their wares for the benefit of those who hadn't heard them a minute ago. There was a certain tune set up by the murmuring shoppers, the calling touters, the clink of clams and the rustle of kelp.
It's a pleasant spot, the market, and if I had more clams that'd be where I'd drop them. There were shiny ornaments, playthings for squirts, bouquets of grasses and anemones, fancy shells, flints, marbles, pouches, fleeces, kelps, kalip, biscuits and, well, everything a spud could want.
Anyway, it suited me fine that we were in the market. Look, I'm not one to give a guy a hard time, especially when he's just doing his job, you know, but I needed an out and quickly. So I slowed down to peruse the wares, looking every bit the keen-eyed pundit, and I handled some of the merchandise expertly, shooting a look over at my shadows.
Those finks did likewise, innocently grabbing at whatever goods nearby and eye-balling them intently. They knew I was up to something, they just didn't know what.
“Dewey, I need you to do one last thing. Follow my lead.”
He wasn't scared any more. In fact, I think he was in the mood for some fun.
“Sure thing, Ted! Lay it on me, brother.”
Time for my play.
I sidled over to where crabs were being sold.
“These crabs you got here, pal,” I said to the vendor. “These come from off Reef?”
“You bet, sir. The finest quality. You cannot find better.”
“I dare say I could if I went over to that guy,” I said, pointing across the way. “He says your crabs are actually grey-shells.”
“Now wait a minute!” he growled.
“Just repeating what I heard is all. He said they were from Artecos. That true?”
“He said what?”
“Grey-shells from Artecos.”
Dewey added, “This the guy? Yeah, he also said you had a bad batch a few tides ago that gave everyone the squits. That true? What kind of crabs are you pushing?”
“That's a lie! A dirty lie! That fever had nothing to do with my crabs!”
“Oh yeah, that's right. My sister got sick eating crabs. I thought they was from that guy,” I rejoined.
“Naw, he said it was from this guy. Says these are all rejects from Artecos.”
By now people were starting to mill to listen in on the gossip. The vendor was turning all sorts of colours and textures.
“A dirty, stinking lie! I only bring the finest – I cannot believe he would stoop so low!”
“Hey, pal, don't look at me, I just don't want to get sick from eating brownbuff crabs is all.”
Dewey nodded, “Should be some kind of law against that kind of thing, making people puke with dodgy merchandise.”
That sent him off the deep-end.
“I'll show him! Artecos crabs indeed! Vincent!”
In a rage he swelled his mantel and jetted up from his stall and pushed his way through the crowd to reach the other vendor. I couldn't hear what was said, I was too busy getting away. It wouldn't have mattered, anyway. The noise of the street rose tenfold. Looking back, a crowd was swarming around, darting here and there, chasing after scared, scuttling crabs, running for all they were worth.
Seems like someone had carelessly pulled the plug on the crab's cage while the owner wasn't watching. Now the merchant was swimming back and forth, pleading over the din of the crowd for them to help herd his crabs back.
Naturally the crowd was divided into two – those who helped get his crabs and those who took the opportunity for a free meal. There was squabbling and admonishments all round, darting crabs and sprawling spuds. A perfect pocket of pandemonium if I do say so myself.
“Where to now, Ted?” Dewey asked, dropping the plug and grinning like I'd never seen him grin.
“Thanks, Dewey, but you're staying here.”
“Why? I can help!”
“You already have. Thanks Dewey, but I gotta make good while I can.”
“Where are you going now?”
“I gotta go!”
“Where?”
“I have to head to the countryside.”
“The country? Where? Ted, are you laying low?”
“No, it's nothing. Just a couple of importers. I've got a lead on Belvedere and I have to follow it up,” I said. “Thanks again. I'll be back soon.”
I whisked off the main concourse, leaving Dewey looking mightily perplexed, jetted as fast as I could through a canal and took it all the way across to the other side of town.
When I stopped, genuinely tired, I poked my eyes around the corner and looked back. No one was there. That deserved a pat on the back. No time for congratulations, though. That was only half the job done. I still needed to get to D'Arouge and Pierce.
Now that I was off the main concourse I had to stay off it, which meant a lot of wriggling down cracks and squeezing through fissures and generally taking three times as long to do anything than I'd like.
Tell you what, being on the wrong side of normal ain't as glamorous as it's cracked up to be. By the time I'd reached Huccor, a sparsely populated rim-town, I was ready to curl up and have a snooze.
Huccor is what you'd call rural. It has fields of lettuce and grass and algae and anemones stretching out along straight shelves of the reef. There are also mussel, pipi and oyster beds interspersed and these, naturally, have to be protected against vagrants, drifters, raiders and the like. As such, each of those beds has whopping great big rock sitting in the middle, home to a Guardian.
It's a good gig, if you're a big spud and you can fight. A healthy diet of shellfish in exchange for your muscle. To support these guys, there are bars and general shops along the outer strip, providing the other essential services like darkwater, hookers and keelsticks.
Naturally, they don't like strangers in those parts, so I had to watch the way I acted. The authorities in the towns are the Guardians – the Law has no clout there – and if you annoy one of them, you can save everyone some trouble by beating yourself up and tossing your battered body into the Abyss.
“Howdy, stranger,” said the barkeep as I sauntered in – you have to saunter, in those parts, too – and sidled up to the bar. “You look thirsty.”
“Howdy, Keep. Just a pod of the black stuff, if you will.”
“You don't drawl enough for a Feruvian, you must be from the city.”
That's how they probe in Huccor. They make statements and expect you to fill in the blanks. If you don't play along, neither will they.
“You got my number. I'm from, Unterpo. It's a town on the outskirts of Rhyal and I live on the outskirts of that.”
“This part of the Reef is a fair way away from there. You're not holidaying and you've not got family here,” he mused. “Must be something big to make a guy head all the way out, especially if he's sporting bruises like yours.”
“Ha, yeah. You could say that.”
He leaned in, “I just did.”
“Alright. I got into some trouble with the local bookmaker. He and I don't exactly see eye to eye.”
“I wouldn't want to see any of that trouble getting dragged into this here quiet town in your wake.”
I drained my pod, “Thanks, Keep. Don't worry. I lost them well before I got here, sent them off in the wrong direction.”
“Good thing, that,” he said, clearing the pod away. “Just keep your bulb round and your mitts clean and you'll be fine here. You need a place to sleep?”
“No. Not yet, anyways. I'm in a bit of a hurry, see?”
“No point hurrying around here,” he said. “Just gets folk in a tizz.”
“I'll keep it cool, then. Say, could you point me in the direction of D'Arouge and Pierce?”
“They ain't looking for work.”
“I've already got my mitts full.”
He snorted, “Shirkers don't last long around here.”
“I ain't a shirker! Aw, gee. Here.”
I dropped a clam on the bar.
He swept his face and checked me over again. Satisfied, he leaned an arm on the bar and pointed with his lazy mitt, clearing his throat noisily.
“You go that-a-way until you get past the black rock, that's Burris – he's a mean one so keep away from the pipis – turn to the right, swim for about ten minutes, you'll see a bunch of red algae crawling up the side of a tall vent,” he drawled out in a single breath. “That's D'Arouge's place. I hope you were listening 'cos I ain't saying that again, clams or no. When you see Burris, tell him Olaf says howdy.”
I thanked Olaf and left.
His instructions, though imprecise, were easy to follow. I saw Burris perched upon his big, black rock, keeping one greedy eye on his field of pipis and the other on me as I swam past.
Pipis, if you don't know, don't like growing in rows. They prefer to scatter about, clustered here and thinner over there, that's just how they like it. Botherwash taught me that. If you see these fields of pipis, you'll know what I mean.
Must make it hard to keep an eye on things, I guess. Hard to tell if a shell gets pinched. Still, I reckon Burris knew the position and size of every shell under his watch.
I flicked my mitt as a salute and gave him a smile. He didn't move an inch. Pleasant folk, those Huccorians. I never did pass on Olaf's greetings. His bad luck, not mine.
I followed the cluster of red-algae up the vent and, at the top, close to the crashing waves, I found a thin plateau terminating in a cavern. As I approached, an octopus and a cuttlefish came out to greet me.
Greet is an interesting word. Maybe it was more like apprehend. The Sepiant moved behind me while the Puss grappled my mitts.
“Hey, whoa, paws off me, guys,” I said. “I'm all for country hospitality but this is a little too touchy-feely for me.”
“Quiet, you!” said the octopus. “Who are you and what are you doing on my property?”
I came up straight, “The name's Tedrick Gritswell. I'm here looking for D'Arouge and Pierce, importers and purveyors of top-quality food. You know them?”
“Sure. We know them. What do you want with them?”
“That's business between me and them,” I said, “and not between two strangers who hassle a guy for paying a visit.”
The cuttlefish called out, “He's not with anyone.”
Evidently he'd been looking out over the side. Straight away it was apparent that these guys had more on their mind than exotic seafood.
“Of course I'm not with anyone. My business doesn't involve anyone else.”
“Get inside,” he ordered, “and keep your mitts where I can see them.”
“So much for the fabled friendly folk of the fields,” I grumbled as I followed him inside.
The Sepiant came up the rear, keeping a sharp watch outside, while his pal let go of me and moved around the opposite side of a table.
“Have a seat,” he said, indicating a comfortable looking rock.
“Don't mind if I do,” I said. “You're Pierce, aren't you?”
He arranged himself along his bench. I noticed that he had a stinger-barb in easy reach. No doubt the cuttlefish had a weapon handy, too.
“So what if I am?” he said.
“Then that'd make him D'Arouge,” I said, nodding behind me, “and then that would make you the guys that I'm after.”
“Maybe we are and maybe we aren't.”
“Ah, look pal, let's skip the buff, shall we? Who are you guys?”
He inched closer to the barb.
“The name's Pierce. That's D'Arouge. We run a good business, a wholesome business. And we're happy enough to defend what is ours.”
“I'm sure you are.”
“That brings us to why you're here,” he said, fondling the barb. “So, why are you here?”
“I'm looking for some Morton Bay Bugs.”
“Morton Bay Bugs? Take it how you like, fella, but you're not the kind of Puss who can afford them.”
“That's my concern,” I said.
“How many were you thinking of supplying and how regular?”
“I'm, er, not after a supply.”
Like lightning he grabbed the barb and lurched over the table at me. I felt a sharp jab in my bulb.
“Talk quick, monsieur!” said D'Arouge. “Or you are dead.”
“No lies,” Pierce added.
Talk quick. Right. I can do that.
“Alright. Alright. My name's Tedrick. I'm a detective. I've been hired to find Belvedere, a person of high importance around the Reef.”
“Belvedere?” said Pierce. “Belvedere who? What do you want with him?”
“Like I said, I've been hired to find him. He hasn't been seen in a few tides and a very concerned family member has grave fears for his safety,” I said.
“So? What's that got to do with us?”
“You know, you need to work on your act. Belvedere who? Really? You're an old friend of his, Pierce, and if you care for him at all, you'll help me,” I said. “Can you put the barb down so we can talk like civilised spuds?”
He backed off. The jabbing behind me eased as well.
“Alright. Civilised spuds. Just know that if you try and sell me a line, I'll jam this up your beak before you can say another word.”
I held my mitts up, “I hear you. I've come unarmed and alone. Now will you do me a solid and let me talk?”
He settled back down. So did I. D'Arouge broke out some kalip and dropped one in front of me.
“You know, for a cuttlefish you're a cool customer.”
“Where I come from, words are expensive. Now speak,” he said in his thick accent. “And do not lie. I will know if you lie. Who is your client?”
“Coraline Medici. His sister. She came to me, very distraught, saying that he hasn't been spotted for tides. She suspected that his disappearance might have had something to do with a big player, Tommy Two-Tone. You may have heard of him?”
“We know him. He regularly puts the squeeze on guys over here. He's behind the raids. He's also making a grab for the land,” Pierce said, “and if he's behind Belvedere's disappearance then he's as good as gone.”
“That's just it, I don't think that Tommy is behind it. You see, there are other players in the mix. There's this guy, Sassam...”
“Sassam?” D'Arouge grumbled. “I have heard of him. He is big, yes? Fat, yes?”
“Yeah, it's hard to miss him, even if you tried.”
“How does he fit into it?”
“Not very well,” I laughed. D’Arouge evidently didn’t get the joke. “Ah, seriously, I don't really know. He's up to something, something big but it's a mystery. It's one big, sodding mystery. All of it. And it all comes back to Belvedere somehow. If I could find Belvedere, I could start piecing things together.”
“So that's all he is to you? A means to an end?”
I mused, “No. No, he's more than that. He's a missing octopus. He's got a sister who's going crazy without him. He's got employees who look up to him, a business that can't function without him. And even if he's been whacked and got rolled off the edge of the Reef, I have to find him.”
“Would you be willing to go into the Abyss after him?” Pierce asked.
A cold chill swept down my mantel.
“I hope that's not a threat,” I said. “I've been clean with you guys.”
D'Arouge laughed, “Please, do not mistake my partner's choice of words, Mister Tedrick. He means plainly that, in order to find Belvedere, you will need to, how do you say, prove your mettle, yes?”
I paused. My brain twigged.
“So, you mean that he's alive?”
“Yes, Mister Gritswell, he is very much alive. And safe.”
“Well thank the Great Spud for that. Coraline will be relieved,” I said. “Can I see him?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because we don't know who you are. You could be an assassin for all I know,” Pierce said. “Talk is cheap.”
“If you're after clams you're out of luck.”
That made Pierce laugh, “No, pal, I don't want your clams.”
“Then, ah, what did you have in mind?”
This kind of talk was making me more than a little nervous. Pierce reached underneath a rock and produced a thin urchin spine. He held it up to the light.
“Your test,” he said. “Hold still, take the injection, you start talking. Simple as that.”
“You're not going to tell me but I'll ask anyway, er, what's in it?”
“An exotic concoction consisting of puffer-juice, cone-shell extract and some secret sauce,” he said. “One drop and you'll yammer on like a cuttlefish on heat.”
“Hey!” D'Arouge interjected, “I should take the offence at that.”
Pierce ignored him, “It's a truth-serum. I can ask you anything and you won't be able to lie.”
“Uh, I don't know, fellas. That's a pretty big deal. I mean, what's to stop you from asking, like, anything?”
“Nothing,” Pierce smiled. “Nothing except my word as a gentleman.”
“Don't you think it's a bit extreme,” I said, looking at the point of the needle. “I mean, uh, me and needles aren't friends and, uh...”
“If you've got nothing to hide, then you've got nothing to fear.”
“I got plenty to hide,” I said. “I'm no saint. But look, I'm straight-up. I'm a private-eye hired to...”
“Yeah, yeah. You said. Now, you gonna take the jab or what?”
I sighed. I wasn't keen on injecting concoctions of puffer-juice or what have you. Not my thing. And needles? Needles! Ugh.
I looked at the door. What other choice did I have? I'd come this far.
“I've been straight with you,” I said. “You straight with me?”
“Absolutely.”
“Will it hurt?”
He shrugged, “I've never tried it on myself. I wouldn't know.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I'll make you a deal. When you're under the influence, I'll ask you.”
“OK. What did the last guy you used it on say?”
“Not a lot,” he said. “Considering he's dead.”
I groaned. I squirmed. I wrapped an arm around my eyes and held out my mitt.
“Alright,” I said. “Go ahead.”
“You sure? The door's just over there?”
“I can't stop now. If this is what it takes to finish the case then, so be it,” I said. “Jab me.”
The last bit was far too squeaky. Pierce let out a roaring laugh and held my mitt.
“Here goes,” he said.
I felt the sharp edge of the urchin spine pressing against me. I wanted to pull away, really, and my other arms curled involuntarily as I focused all my energy to keep that mitt straight.
“What do you think, D'Arouge?”
“He is good. Let him go.”
The pressure was off, the spine was pulled away.
I opened an eye, “What gives?”
“You passed the test, guy. You're alright,” said Pierce. “If you'd pulled away I would have run you through. You're the real deal.”
“Like I said.”
“Hey, we can't be too careful. Now, you feeling OK? You look a bit off.”
I'm sure my skin was all shades of yellow.
“Er, yeah. Give me a minute,” I said. “I wasn't lying when I said I don't like needles.”
He passed a pod of palewater to me. I dropped that down and felt immediately better.
“OK, I'm good,” I said. “Thanks. Can I see Belvedere now?”
Pierce scratched his head, “You think he's up to it?”
He was looking at me but talking to D'Arouge. He eyed me over.
“Only one way to find out. Come this way.”
I hesitated. It still had a whiff like a trap.
He insisted, “If you want to see Belvedere, come this way. If not, you must leave at once.”
“Not much of a choice, is it?”
I'd invested enough in this pot, I may as well see the flop. The water felt friendlier now, though. Well, not friendly, but definitely less hostile. I guess they were still as unsure of me as I was of them.
He brought me through the complex, which is what that place turned out to be. There were holes leading into tunnels and burrows winding around and around, looping back in and around again.
“What is this place?” I asked.
“This is the outer structure of the main vent. Perhaps you have seen it coming up the road?”
“Yeah, I did. Kind of hard to miss.”
“It is warmer, yes? You have noticed. A hot fissure brings forth currents from depths unfathomable.”
“Unfathomable? No kidding?”
“No, not kidding. This is but one vent that funnels water up through to the top of the Reef. Without it, hot water would, eh, how you say, spill everywhere.”
“So what's with all the holes and channels?”
“Ah! Ah! A true detective,” D'Arouge said. “You have noticed them, yes? They allow alternate path for the waters. This cools more rapidly and, simultaneously, deposit their mineral contents upon the walls.”
I noted the glittering structures lining the mouths of the channels, forming spikes and bumps.
In answer to my unasked question, he said, “We then scrape off the minerals, process them in our other plant. With this we turn into materials building and bedding.”
I was impressed, but confused, “I thought you guys were importers of fine foods, etcetera, etcetera.”
“Oh, of course but we are. Why, is there a law saying that one cannot operate businesses concurrent?”
Pierce added, “We purchased this vent originally to serve as a drop-off and processing spot for the incoming goods, being convenient to other reefs. Turns out it had some naturally occurring features that were just waiting to be turned into a profit.”
By now we had descended a fair way down the vent and it was getting palpably warmer. D'Arouge left us.
“I will return to the surface,” he announced. “Pierce, you are agreeable?”
Pierce nodded, “Sure, go on.”
“Whew. He's got the right idea. He's off just when it's getting hot.”
“He is fine with the heat and the current,” Pierce said. “It's the pressure. Cuttlefish don't like the pressure. You uncomfortable?”
“Uneasy. Just how hot does it get down here?” I asked.
“Very.”
“What's at the bottom?”
Pierce shrugged, “No idea. I've never been down that far. I stop when it starts to get uncomfortable.”
I paused. I got a sick feeling in my stomach.
“Uh, where's Belvedere? Is he down here?”
Pierce smiled, “I told you he was safe, didn't I?”
“Yeah. You did. But now I'm wondering if we've both got the same definition of safe.”
“Just keep swimming, friend.”
I kept going. The current was whooshing past us now and we had to crawl along on with arms suckered to the crannies to keep going. Specks and bubbles raced past, stinging my eyes and clogging up my siphon. It was past uncomfortable. It was tough. Unbearable. I could feel my skin prickling for how hot it was. If Pierce was affected, he didn't show it.
Just when I thought I couldn't go any further without turning into a kebab, a gully opened up on my left, with refreshingly cool water circulating in.
“In here!” Pierce burbled over the noise of the current.
He didn't have to tell me twice. I was in and rubbing the crud out of my eyes and spewing out flecks from my siphon.
“Some hiding place, eh?” he laughed. “Even if you wanted to find it you couldn't!”
“Yeah. Some hiding place,” I coughed.
“This is one of the side-holes drawing in water from around the reef to pre-cool the vent current,” he said. “Without the big ones like these, the water would've boiled us alive.”
My skin rippled. Boiled alive. What a way to go.
“Are you telling me that this leads to the outside Reef, huh?” I said. “Couldn't we have just swum down from the edge?”
“More fun this way. Plus I can't risk anyone seeing us,” Pierce grinned. “And I needed to see if you were the real deal. If you'd flaked out back there you wouldn't be talking right now.”
“Enough of the tests! I'm clean!”
“I can't be...”
“Too careful, I get it. You're protective of your friend.”
“Don't forget it.”
“So is he here or what?”
“Third hole on your left. Wait!”
He frisked me, searching my membrane for any weapons or drugs. He took my clams.
“You can have these back when you're done. Hey! Hey, Belvedere! Wakey-wakey! You've got a visitor!”